3 LGBT Groups Invited to Major German Catholic Gathering.

In Germany today, Catholics gathered in Leipzig for the start of a three-day major event, the “Catholic Conference Day”, which has been held every two years since 1848 (except for an interruption during the National Socialist period). With over 1000 different exhibitions and events, some 30 000 visitors are expected. Organized by the Central Committee of German Catholics, the event is so important and influential, that in attendance are not only the leading members of the German Catholic Church, but also senior politicians.

(Image from Kreuz und Queer, an lgbt blog at the Evangelisch church website, http://www.evangelisch.de/blogs/kreuz-und-queer)

For the Church, the President of the German Catholic Bishops Conference Cardinal Reinhard Marx, is taking part, and also Cardinal Karl Lehmann, the lgbt supportive Archbishop Heiner Koch of Berlin, and other notable prelates. Pope Francis sent a pre-recorded message for delivery to the assembly.

For the state, the German President delivered the opening day keynote address, while a cabinet minister, a state premier, and others from all major parties (except one) were also present.

This is of major importance – the German hierarchy takes the ZdK very seriously indeed. After the group passed a resolution asking for church blessings for same-sex couples, Cardinal Marx’s response was that the request could not be accepted “unreservedly” – implying that it could perhaps be accepted at least in part, with reservations.

The importance and extent of the LGBT participation this year can also be gauged from the panic expressed at the right wing “Catholic” site, Lifesite News:

They (the LGBT groups) will be “massively” present at events, round tables and even during church services, giving witness to the revolutionary power of the Central Committee of German Catholics, a lay organization that has close links with the Bishops’ Conference and which promotes a more “moderate” Catholic teaching on marriage, family and sexuality.

This is the first time ever that German homosexual groups are officially welcome at the Katholikentag. A “Rainbow Center” – a meeting place for LGBT believers and LGBT groups – will be set up as the Catholic Church follows suit after similar “Protestant days” in 2015 in Stuttgart welcomed not only a Rainbow Center but also about 100 events for LGBT’s, “queers” and “gender issues.”

For a more balanced view on LGBT participation, and an interesting contrast with the one political party that has not been invited, see this report from the eminently respectable Deutsche Welle (Stefan Kaufmann is an openly gay member of the German Bundestag):

A diverse church for the German people

In fact, the presence of Kaufmann with three of the most important gay and lesbian Catholic advocacy groups in the country shows that the ZdK is willing to take an openly progressive position, and controversial in equal measure, with regards to the type of church it wants to promote. Kaufmann as well as the Catholic Lesbian Network and the Workgroup Homosexuals and Church have been invited by organizers to present their work on the open integration of sexual minorities to the Catholic church.

But not the entire political spectrum is represented in Leipzig. Saxony is the heart of the most recent right-wing populist political movements in Germany. And indeed, much has been made of the fact that the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) was not asked to participate in the events. Thomas Sternberg, president of the ZdK, was asked about it during the press conference. For the organizers, the strong anti-immigration agenda of the AfD is incompatible with the internationalism, openness and demand of hospitality that Catholicism places on the members of the church. According to Sternberg, the duty to protect the ones in need, is a Christian duty and bringing in a group that demands the closing of Germany’s doors in the face of those who escape great hardships cannot find a platform in an event intended to promote openness.

And if your German is good enough to read (possibly with the help of Google or other translation software), there’s a report from a German lgbt perspective, at queer.de, which describes among other things, how one of the aims of the Rainbow Centre will be to promote their work and progress towards church blessings for same-sex couples.

I was there, in Leipzig, and this is a very good description. It was good to see the three groups mentioned (again) – they have been in the “market place” before, but perhaps not as officially invited as this year. There’s a book out on the history of the Katholikentag, and LGBT Catholics have a chapter in it. This was my fifth Katholikentag – including an ecumenical one in Munich 2010 – and hope to be in Munster 2018 to see more progress on LGBT issues.